Gaiden: Shrouded Knowledge
by ZeroIXResoleon
Summary: An NOL warehouse comes under attack by two mysterious women. Special Appearances: Mai Natsume and Cajun Faycott from Blazblue Remix Heart.
1. Unexpected Surprise

Hello, everybody! SevilResoleon here with a special Blazblue Fanfiction!

In case you didn't read the summary, because this particular Fanfiction is special is because it is going to feature two characters from the Manga.

Their names follows as Mai Natsume and Cajun Faycott. No, they are not Original Characters. They are real characters from Blazblue.

This is a Gaiden, Japanese for side story. In addition, this is all speculation as to what these characters are capable of.

Anyway, I hope you people will enjoy this. I'm very excited for you to read it.

Okay, that's enough rambling from me! Enjoy the Fanfiction!

* * *

**Mai X Cajun Gaiden: Shrouded Knowledge **

**Rebel One: Unexpected Surprise **

**Uncharted Island, 7:35 PM**

It is nighttime on an uncharted island. This island is moderately sized with treacherous terrain at the edges. In the center of this island, is some sort of warehouse. This warehouse is owned by the NOL.

At the edge of the island, behind the most mountainous crags is a submarine that had just emerged from the water. The door of it unwinds and opens. From the door of the submarine emerged two young women in battle suits with the proper equipment attached, of course for battle.

The first woman is teal haired that goes by the name Mai Natsume. The second woman is lavender haired that goes by the name Cajun Faycott. After they made sure that the entrance to the submarine is sealed. They nod to each other once and started climbing up the crags.

* * *

Once they were finished their climb down to the bottom of the other side of the crags, which had somewhat of a forest setting, the lavender haired woman named Cajun reached into her utility bag and retrieved some sort of compact laptop. She opens it in order to start typing on it. In the meantime, Mai Natsume is keeping surveillance by arming herself with her spear.

Mai surveyed the area that seemed to have a rainforest setting. There didn't seem to be NOL soldiers patrolling this particular area. Once she confirmed herself that they were completely, safe, she looked down at Cajun who was still typing vigorously on her laptop. "Cajun, is this the area?"

Cajun nodded as she continued to type. "Yes, it is. This is definitely the island that has it. Of course, we have a boatload of work on our hands. There's no doubt that we'll be dealing with the NOL's state-of-the-art security. So we have to make sure that we give ourselves enough time with this. There's nothing that the young people call "respwaning" in real life."

Mai nods. Her forte was combat but not tactical measures. "Thank goodness you're my partner in this. It would be even better if Noel was with us."

Cajun looks up sternly at Mai. "For your information, Mai, she's a part of the NOL, also. As much as I hate to say it, she's not the only one who is at work with the NOL. Jin Kisaragi, Tsubaki Yayoi, and Makoto Nanaya is there. However, I know that Makoto is just a spy for Sector Seven, working undercover. It's unlikely that Tsubaki or Makoto would be here since the former is in the Wings Of Justice division while Makoto is working for the Intelligence Department, undercover for Sector Seven."

Mai sighs with relief. "At least we know that's at least two that we won't be facing. What about Jin and Noel?"

Cajun looks back onto her computer monitor, typing as she continues to talk. "If we take too long, it's more likely we'll encounter them. Hopefully, we'll be long gone by the time that happens. It will take them at least an hour to reinforce this area if they get alerted to our attack. However, it will take those two at least three hours at this rate."

Mai tilted her head in confusion. "Why is that, Cajun?"

Cajun grins as she hits the enter button. "Do you think I've been typing this whole time for nothing, Mai? I've been overriding the security systems on the outskirts of the warehouse. Not even the cameras on the outside to the warehouse are working. I've hijacked them using a computer virus I've compiled. The virus will last at least two hours before they're able to reject it from the systems."

Mai could get at least a sense of what Cajun was saying. Cajun is always the knowledgeable one. "Oh...so that's why you said it would take them at least three hours for Noel or Jin to reinforce."

Cajun quickly closes her laptop and tucks it away. She then stands up. "Three hours will be up if we don't hurry, yes?"

Mai got flustered a bit, fiddling with her spear. "Right! Let's go, then!"

* * *

**Perimeter of the warehouse, 8:12 PM**

The warehouse was in their sights. The two young women surveyed the area. They could see a handful of soldiers patrolling the area.

Cajun nods up and down. "They've seem to have caught on to the fact that the security cameras weren't working. They sent out more guards to secure the perimeter as they try to reject the virus from the system."

Mai tries to think about the situation for a bit here. "Well...we can't just charge in. There are only two of us here."

Cajun smirks slightly. "With any luck, we won't have to. Look, they're in perfect alignment right in front of the door. With your spear, you can take them all out."

Mai looks at Cajun as if she were crazy. "Why do I have to be the one to take them all out? Can you use your psionic magus?"

Cajun shook her head. "Remember, if we make too much noise, they'll probably reinforce with more enemies. With your harpoon's minimal sound emanation and the ability to pierce through opponents because of its phenomenal speed, you can probably take them all out in one shot."

Mai takes a deep breath. She was very nervous for this. "Okay, Cajun. I'll try to do it."

Cajun smiled at Mai. "Good. In the meantime, I'll be running an errand. Be sure those guards are sniped by the time I get back." With that being said, she sprints off in another direction.

Mai shakes her head as she sighed. Mai makes her way to the left side of the perimeter. Mai then positions herself parallel to the guards that were positioned in front of the door. Mai withdraws her spear. Mai then takes out her utility bag, her harpoon gun. After she finishes loading it with a single harpoon, she takes aim to make sure that the gun is going to hit the vital spot on the neck of her first target so that it'll do the same for the rest of the guards that were standing in perfect horizontal alignment with the first.

Mai nods to herself as she said a single line before firing. "...You won't feel a thing..."

Mai fires her harpoon gun and in about a second, the harpoon itself silences all the guards that were at the door indefinitely. Long story short, all the guards were dead within a blink of an eye. No sound was made, except for the bodies falling harmlessly to the ground.

* * *

Mai returns to the six o clock position of the warehouse where she and Cajun agreed to meet up. After a few minutes, Cajun walked back with pride.

Mai knew that Cajun did something sneaky and insidious. "What did you just do, Cajun?"

Cajun smiled at Mai. "I've made a new friend. That's what happened."

Mai waits for a moment and at that point, she fells the ground shaking slightly. A creature came to her sights. It was your typical forest creature. It was huge at that. "Why exactly did you mind-link it?"

Cajun explained with a prideful grin. "Well first of all, we'll need something to distract the NOL guards that are inside once bust the door open. This will allow us to sneak within the base without being visibly detected. Then, we'll enter the Central Control Room of the warehouse, where we will activate the timer on the dynamite packs while we steal the main objective we come here for. Once that is in place, in approximately thirty minutes after we active the dynamite packs, the explosion should be catastrophic enough to destroy the whole warehouse with no trace remaining. However, the problem will be getting out. I'm very sure that the creature in my possession will not survive long, considering that I will be sending it headlong into a whole legion of NOL soldiers."

Mai shakes her head at Cajun. _"You would have made a great addition to the intelligence department..." _

Cajun turns her attention to the door. "Now...let's set the plan into motion, shall we?"

Mai nods. Mai and Cajun make their way to the front of the door. Cajun taps on Mai's shoulder once. Mai turns to Cajun and nods. Mai takes out from her utility bag, a remote control bomb. She attaches the bomb to the center of the door. Cajun moves back quite a distance. The creature moves to the same place that Cajun is standing on. Mai moves to the side of the warehouse to steer herself clear of the bomb.

After a few seconds the bomb explodes the door open. As planned, Cajun sends the creature inside to distract the NOL guards inside. Groans, grunts and screams could be heard from inside. Cajun and Mai enter through the door with much stealth, utilizing the smoke leftover from the explosion and made their way further into the warehouse interior.

Mai chuckles lightly after they stopped at the next door. "Whew...so far...so good...are you okay, Cajun?"

Cajun nods. "Yep...the creature's vicious attack should have forced most of the NOL soldiers to reinforce so fighting on our part should be minimal if not non-existent..."

Mai opens her mouth slightly to taste the air. What set Mai apart from Cajun are her super taste buds. Mai immediately spits out the taste. She turns to the door and spoke with great fear. "Cajun...something is odd about that next room...and I mean really odd. There's just something that...ugh! It's so gross!"

Cajun was a bit intrigued by this. Of course, this only fueled her desire to get more information. Cajun's only course of action was to slide the door open. Mai moves in with her spear in tow, threating all in the room.

There appeared to be scientists in the room. They turned to see Mai and Cajun entering in. The scientists went white as the uniforms they wore. They threw their hands in the air.

"Oh my God! Don't kill me!" One of the scientists begged on his knees.

Mai points her spear at the door. "If you don't want us to kill you, head out this door right now. We'll spare you your lives."

The scientists happily obliged Mai's demand and left the room. Mai and Cajun took their time to survey the room and what it contained within. All around the walls, they could see test tubes filled with water with what appeared to be a very young blonde girl in each of them.

Cajun's forehead started to wrinkle. "This...this wasn't in my scouting information..."

Mai's eyebrows rose. It was a surprise to her that there was something that Cajun didn't know. "What? Are you serious?"

Cajun quickly takes out her laptop. "Yes! We've only came to steal the goods but...something tells me that we're very close to a possible reason why this island was uncharted."

Mai could sense some familiarity with the subjects within the test tubes. "What are these things? They're nothing like what I've ever seen before. Cajun, what's your take on them?"

Cajun was already on the job on her laptop. "I'm scanning their bio signatures..." Cajun's eyes went a bit wide as her laptop gave her the results. "All of these...subjects seemed to be connected to the 12th Interface Prime Field. Not only that...they have the same resemblance to...Noel!"

Mai's eyes popped. Mai observed that Cajun was having a rare moment of panic. She knew that it was nothing good. "Cajun...what does it mean? Are you saying that Noel IS the 12th Interface Prime Field?"

Cajun softly withdraws her laptop. Cajun takes a deep breath. "I...don't know...but the purpose here is a mystery. I think that...this uncharted island was a guise to hide whatever activity is held here. It must be a top-secret operation... But...something's not right! Noel is the secretary to the fourth major Jin Kisaragi! There's no way that Noel could have been assimilated to make these things and be perfectly healthy, serving in the NOL! This does not make sense!"

Mai gulps once. "Cajun...I think we'll find our answer as we'll move on. But...I'm scared, Cajun...not just for us...but for Noel..."

* * *

**Unknown Lab #2, 9:37 PM**

Mai had just taken out the guards that were occupying the door to another room. Cajun stares that the label of the door.

The wrinkles returned to Cajun's forehead. "It's another lab..."

Mai kicks the door open. She scans the area for anyone. It seemed as though this room was completely unoccupied. "All clear, Cajun..."

Cajun enters the room. She goes to the side of a table in the center of the room and takes out her laptop again. She begins to type on it. Meanwhile, Mai spots four of the test tubes they saw in the previous lab room.

Mai gulps at this. Just looking at the tubes that apparently had a close friend of theirs inside was very gut-wrenching to her. "This is...so horrible. It's like thing was done over and over again..."

Cajun spoke as she typed on her computer. "What...in the hell is this? All of what we've found have the exact same DNA and physiology; the same physiology as Noel Vermillion. The thing about this DNA here...it has been artificially spliced."

Mai's face became pale. "What does it mean, Cajun?" Half of Mai knew the answer but the other half was absolutely terrified to know..."

Cajun's head slowly turned to Mai. Cajun spoke with stern and dread. "It means that whoever is in charge of this horrendous crime...did it deliberately..."

* * *

This Fanfiction is too big to be a One Shot so Rebel Two will come to you soon!

Please tell me what you think of this Gaiden so far!

SevilResoleon, over and out! Till the second Rebel!

**Rebel One: End**


	2. Twisted

Hello, everybody! SevilResoleon here bringing you the second part to this Gaiden!

I'm glad that it's well recieved so far!

Here are some replies to the two reviews I got:

Teh Reaper: No, Relius or Ignis will not be in it. This Gaiden was mapped out.

Ezio-FM Assassin: It was influenced by both Bionic Commando and the manga.

Please enjoy the second chapter.

* * *

**Rebel Two: Twisted **

**Unknown Lab #2: 9:41 PM**

Mai almost fell backwards upon hearing Cajun's statement. Instead, she goes onto one knee, about to cry. Cajun comforts her.

Mai starts sobbing lightly. "Those bastards...how could they do something like this?"

Cajun nodded in agreement as she continued to comfort Mai. "It's okay, Mai. We'll destroy this place, no doubt about it. For now, please stay strong, for Noel."

Cajun helps up Mai to stand. Mai wipes the tears from her face and strengthens her weakened resolve. "Thanks, Cajun...but still...there's no chance in hell we can let this place stand one second longer. We need to burn this place to the ground and scatter the ashes."

Cajun nods and heads to one of the computer terminals containing a replica of Noel. Mai follows. Cajun starts typing on the computer terminal of the cell. Mai stares at it as the replica looks back at Mai with curious eyes. Mai gulps once. She felt like it was the real Noel who was trapped in there. Was there going to be a way to save them all? Most likely...not...

Mai tries to distract herself by looking down on Cajun who was typing on the computer terminal. "What are you trying to do, Cajun?"

Cajun's forehead wrinkles as she continued to type. "I'm trying to get ahold of how these work. This terminal appears to have controls to it as well..."

Mai gulps once. "Don't tamper with it. We don't know what it does!"

Cajun ignored Mai's warning and continued to type. "It's not like this place is going to last long, anyway." Cajun then gasps as if she discovers something. The computer terminal starts to sound and the cell starts to highlight itself red.

Mai gasps as well. "Cajun, what did you do?"

Cajun steps back. "I...don't know what I did!"

The computer terminal started to speak. "Danger! Subject 122.98 suffering from overwhelming emotional stress. Water temperature at critical stages! Cell meltdown imminent!"

The cell itself shatters and the replica inside and the water itself spills out onto the floor.

Mai shrieks. "Oh God...why?"

Cajun notions Mai to be quiet. They look at the replica who is struggling to stand up. She appeared to be on all fours, unable to stand. Slowly, her head lifts to stare at Mai and Cajun expectedly. She could only speak three words. "Please...kill...me..."

Cajun and Mai went white. The voice of that replica was exactly like Noel's. Mai started to harbor tears. "No, I can't do that! There's no way I can do that!"

Cajun places a hand on Mai's shoulder. "Mai, let's just do as she says. There's no helping her out; we have to put her out of her misery."

Mai covers her face to hide her torn emotional expression. "Alright but you do it, Cajun. It feels like it's really Noel, even though it's not!"

Cajun nodded. She knew that Mai couldn't force herself to take a friend's life. Somehow to her, this felt like taking Noel's life as well. Cajun takes out a needle and kneels down next to the replica's level. Mai looks away to cry in silence...

The replica looks up at Cajun. "Please do it...I don't have much time..."

Cajun nods and performs the lethal injection to quietly put the replica to sleep. The replica smiles before going limp. Cajun stares at the replica's face. It looked like it was asleep, in a peaceful, satisfying slumber.

Cajun sighs to herself and stood up, facing Mai who was in the corner of the room, still crying to herself. "It's over, Mai. You can look, now."

Mai slowly turns herself around to face Cajun. Even slower, she takes off the hands that were covering her face. All of a sudden, she feels an aura of vengeance taking her over. "Damn those amoral NOL! The audacity of these people confounds me! If they seek to know more about Noel, I will give them a first-hand lesson!"

Cajun nodded in agreement. The NOL has a lot to answer for. "Don't worry, Mai. By the time we're out of here, this place will be blown sky high." Cajun returns to her laptop to scout out the remaining area ahead. "It seems as though my laptop is picking up a power signature from the Central Control Room. It appears to be from some sort of reactor."

Mai puts both of her hands on her waist. "Let me guess, that's where we're supposed to place the dynamite packs?"

Cajun snaps her fingers at Mai. "Exactly, Mai. We'll find the reactor in the Central Control Room, plant it and then we'll escape from there."

Mai stares at the door leading further into the warehouse. "Let's go, then. The sooner we're done our mission here, the sooner we can get off of this rock."

Mai and Cajun slowly walk through the door.

* * *

**Entrance to the Warehouse, 10:19 PM**

With the creature finally dead, only a handful of NOL soldiers remain. The apparent leader, Admiral, stepped forward into the rubble made at the entrance and the creature's corpse. "Will somebody please tell me what the hell that was all about?"

"Emergency! Emergency!" A cowardly voice sounded.

All the NOL soldiers turned back to a handful of scientists that were running toward them. They fell to their knees once they were well near the Admiral. The Admiral stepped toward them. "Calm down! What is your situation?"

The lead scientist spoke up. "Two women, one with teal hair, and one with lavender hair, kicked us out of the room! They've discovered the operations!"

Everything became clear to the Admiral. "Damn it! Those two must have snuck in while we were occupied! Men! Double time to the Central Control Room! Go! Go! Go! I have no doubt they're headed there!"

A soldier stepped up to the Admiral. "But sir, how do we know that's where they're headed?"

The Admiral turns to the soldier. "Those two are too smart to come here without an objective. What they're looking for is in there. I'm sure you would have caught onto that when they completely snuck by us while we were fighting that creature."

The soldier stepped back a few. "Uh...yes sir!"

The Admiral starts making his way to the Central Control Room. "Come, men! We must stop them before they can cause further damage!"

* * *

**Central Control Room, 10:38 PM**

Mai had just finished off the last guard in the room. Cajun is typing on her laptop.

Cajun nods in approval. "According to my laptop, we should be right on top of the power signature. The power core should be in this room somewhere."

Mai looks around vigorously for it. She then spots a red glowing machine to the far right. "There!"

Cajun puts away her laptop and makes her way to the place where Mai pointed out. Cajun places the dynamite packs on it. She presses a button on the packs to set off the timer. It starts to click from thirty minutes. Cajun nods at it in approval. "Good. Mai, did you retrieve the objective?"

Mai had just retrieved a moderately sized container that appeared to have their goods inside. "Yep, everything is in here. We can tamper with it one we've retreat back to the submarine."

Mai and Cajun turn to the center of the room to see a unique testing cell. This cell stretches out from the floor all the way to the ceiling. In the middle of it, was yet another replica that represented Noel, only more...armed and the eyes were lifeless blue instead of emerald green.

Mai gulped again, afraid of what could possibly be inside. "That replica is definitely not what we've seen from the others."

"Magnificent...isn't it?" A man's calm voice sounded.

Mai and Cajun turned to their left where they've heard the voice. They see a green haired man in a suit and hat. Cajun stepped once toward him. "You are Hazama the captain from the Intelligence Department, aren't you?"

Hazama takes off his hat and gives a bow of respect. He does so with a dignified smile. Mai and Cajun immediately did not trust him. Hazama gives a lighthearted chuckle. "Ah, I am honored that you two know me. I'm not one for formalities so you can refer to me as Hazama." Hazama flashes a smile.

Mai's eyes thinned. _"For some reason, he makes me angry...why does he make me angry?" _

Cajun chose her words carefully. "Consort of the NOL, is this twisted scheme a part of someone's motive from there?"

Hazama clears his throat. "No, I'm afraid not. Although, I can assure, not even the main branches of the NOL knows about this. The Imperator...handpicked, shall we say, a select few to know about this delicate knowledge. Not even people like Jin Kisaragi are aware that such a grand experiment is going on."

An eyebrow rose from Cajun. "What? Is this a double blind study of some kind? What the hell is the NOL planning with something like this behind its own back?"

Hazama maintained a smirk. "I cannot release that information to you, I'm afraid. If I'm not mistaken, you are Mai Natsume and Cajun Faycott, right?"

Mai and Cajun both had their eyes widened. Both of them became aware at the same time that this man was dangerous behind that smirk.

Hazama cleared his throat once again to reinforce his right to talk. "I've seemed to have hit a nerve. It's typical, believe me. It's just that the NOL produces excellent spies. I just happen to be one of the most efficient people working there."

Cajun's expression of distain did not vanish. "Shouldn't that intelligence department be also known to be a house to oafs with loose tongues?"

Hazama chuckled. "I have no idea why we're getting so worked up over me knowing your names. Please. Let's not get carried away with our boiled up emotions before someone gets hurt. I'll tell you what. I've told you what I know about you. So now, I'll let you ask me any question you want and I'll give you the best answer I can."

Cajun stares at the cell in the center of the room. "What is the motive behind these horrendous experiments and what do they have to do with Noel Vermillion?"

Hazama clears his throat. "So you're familiar with the secretary to Jin Kisaragi? My, you people did your homework. Anyway, this answer to your question might be a long once to pay close attention here. Your friend Noel Vermillion here...is a shell of an immense power. This...power is one that has taken countless years and hard work to perfect. Noel wasn't born naturally. The nice scientists here had to make sure that it was the perfect one. The replicas you have encountered are a reflection of the countless years to 'make' Noel Vermillion. They were all failures." Hazama turns to the cell in the center of the room.

Mai points toward the cell, her hand shaking with anger. "Then what the hell is that, huh? Tell me right now what the hell that is!"

Hazama calmly brushes off Mai's anger. "That is the replica put on display right before Noel was. It's beautiful, isn't it? It's a prototype of the true form of Miss Noel Vermillion."

Mai gulps, her anger turning into fear. _"That's who Noel really is?" _

Hazama nods toward Mai. "In case you're thinking it, yes, that is who Noel really is. She is a weapon destined to destroy the world. You would do well to use this obtained knowledge wisely. You two are lucky ducks to be receiving this information from the most valuable member of the intelligence department. But yeah...anyway...behold that thing in the cell. It's who your friend really is."

Mai growls and points her spear at Hazama. "All I see in that cell...is an abomination! This whole thing sucks!"

Hazama scoffs and turns his back to Mai and Cajun. "Typical reaction; you've just proven my point. You have an inability to realize the true greater scheme of things. That's going to be important with the knowledge I've given you."

Mai steps once toward Hazama, about to thrust her spear into him. "You-!"

Cajun restrains Mai. "Mai, calm down! Hazama, please answer one more question from us."

Hazama raises his head, with his back still turned toward Mai and Cajun. "Since you seem to be the smarter one of the two, I'll answer a question from you, at least. Shoot."

Cajun gazes at the cell that contained the apparent true form of Noel. "Is there any way to destroy the weapon inside Noel?"

Hazama chuckles deviously. "Of course there is. The only ways to destroy Noel's true form...is to kill her...and leave no trace remaining."

* * *

Stay updated for the third and final Rebel!

**Rebel Two: End**


	3. Mu 12

Hello, everybody! SevilResoleon here bringing you the final Rebel to this Gaiden!

Last time we checked, Mai and Cajun were having a little conversation with Hazama. How did the rest of it go?

More importantly please enjoy the last of the Gaiden!

* * *

**Rebel Three: Mu-12**

**Central Control Room, 10:41 PM**

A grim silence came about the room for a few seconds. Mai stomps on the ground only once. "Do you have any conception of what you people have created here? Do you have any idea of what this...this...Prime Field Unit or whatever it's supposed to be is capable of?"

Hazama turns around to hide the squinting eyes on his face. "Of course we do, dear. The NOL wouldn't have embarked on something so grand like this, if we knew it would be that dangerous."

Mai's eyes glances over to the test tube containing the almost perfect replica of 'Noel'.

Hazama clears his throat. "I know what you're thinking, sweetheart. You want to destroy that somehow. Go ahead. At this point, the NOL could give a rat's ass about this place. Since Noel was created, this place serves no further purpose, other than being an archive of our failures. Even if you destroy her," He pointed toward the lifeless looking replica. "I can assure that the true threat still looms large. Can any of you two take a guess at who that could possibly be?"

Cajun lowers her head. "Noel..."

Hazama claps his hands once. "Ding-dong, that's correct! If you want to have any hope of saving her, you must kill her. Snarl at me all you want; it won't change a thing. But what will change once Noel's true form awakens...is this world...forever. Once again, I'd like to reiterate, that 'Noel' in there is a replica of her true form."

Cajun and Mai stared at the test tube to see the lifeless blue eyes.

Hazama spoke while their eyes were fixed on the test tube. "Well...I supposed I've taken enough of your time. Remember; use your newly found knowledge wisely."

Hazama slowly walks back into the dark corner of the room to disappear.

Mai stabs her spear into the ground. "Damn it all to hell! Noel is in greater danger than we thought! How can we possibly tell Noel this?"

Cajun gazes at Mai. "...I...don't know...but our first priority is escaping."

"STOP!" A man's voice sounded.

Cajun sighs; they were surrounded. From all entrance points to the Central Control Room, NOL soldiers flooded in from all the entrances, pointing their guns at Mai and Cajun as the soldiers got into position.

The Admiral of the group steps forward with two guns in his hand and pointed at them separately with each one. "Put your hands up or I will shoot."

Mai drops her spear and did as was told. Cajun did the same shortly after.

The Admiral steps to point blank range of Cajun and Mai and hits them both in the face with the butt of each gun separately. Mai and Cajun fell to the ground.

The Admiral points at each of them with one gun each. "You were impressive getting this far but this is as far as you will go."

Mai closes her eyes. "So be it...I'm prepared..."

Cajun gasped and stared at Mai. "Mai! What are you doing?"

Mai spoke with her eyes shut. "If Noel can't be saved...then it doesn't matter what happens to me..."

The Admiral gives Mai a curious look. "How extremely frank...for that...you will not be executed. Instead, you will be put into our custody." The Admiral turns to one of his henchmen. "You there, restrain her."

"Yes, sir!" The henchmen steps to behind Mai and force her to stand. He then pins both of her hands to her back.

Once the Admiral saw that Mai was restrained, he points both guns at Cajun. "As for this one...she will die. One of you will be plenty."

Out of nowhere, the ground starts to shake. Everyone in the room looks around to see what the tremors could possibly be about.

The Admiral takes notice of this. "What is this?"

The entire Central Control Room starts to flash red. The terminal to the test tube in the center started to sound as well. "Alert! Alert! Containment field is weakening! Replica Subject classified as Mu-12 reviving! Cell meltdown imminent! Evacuate area immediately!"

From inside the tube, the lifeless blue eyes of the replica shines. A moment later, the tube itself bursts, scattering water everywhere.

Mai takes this moment to scoop kick the guard in the groin and retrieve her spear. She helps up Cajun. They silently slip away to the exit of the room while everyone was distracted. From the outside of the door, they continued to look in from the door.

One of the henchmen squealed. "Admiral! What should we do?"

The Admiral growled. "Grr...open fire!"

The entire legion surrounding the tube shoots at Mu-12 but the bullets reflects off of her armor in random directions, some hitting the guards themselves.

"**Forever sleep!" **Mu-12 exclaimed.

* * *

From the other side of the door where they came from, Mai and Cajun looks in horror as Mu-12 starts to slaughter everyone in the room.

Mai gulps and takes a few steps back. "Oh my God...am I seeing this right?"

Cajun ignores Mai's rhetorical question and grabs her arm to force her to start running with her. "Alright that's it! We're leaving! The timer says that we've only got just less than eight minutes to escape!"

While Cajun and Mai were running for the exit, they could still hear the screams of agony and terror coming from the Central Control Room. Cajun takes out her laptop and looked into it as she was running.

Mai looks at Cajun with astonishment. "Cajun, what are you doing?"

Cajun puts away her laptop. "According to my laptop, that replica is virtually indestructible! Just run for it! It's all we can do!"

Mai takes a look back and quickly turns forward. "Oh man! Those soldiers won't hold it back for long! Go! Go! Go!"

* * *

Mu grabs the last soldier and stabs him with all eight of her swords. She stares at the door leading out of the Central Control Room.

"**Targets...escaping...must pursue!" **

Mu sprints out the door and starts to make her way toward Mai and Cajun.

* * *

Cajun's laptop makes an alert sound. Cajun looks into it. "Damn it! It finished them sooner than I thought! It's on the move!"

Cajun and Mai flinch momentarily after they feel another tremor. They resumed their running.

Mai spoke in between pants. "Cajun, how long is it before the explosion happens?"

Cajun looks into her compact laptop. "Less than three minutes! The signal is warping but it's picking up that the replica is tearing the place apart! It's in pursuit of us...and fast!"

As they were running, Mai seemed to have got an idea. Mai takes out from her utility bag, a few remote control bombs. She throws them up on the ceiling a few times as they were running so that there was a bit of a pattern of them. Mai then takes out the switch and clicks it, causing them to explode. From behind them, piles of debris fall.

Cajun gives thumbs up to Mai with her free hand. "Nice improvising, Mai! That should buy us enough time to escape. We've only to two minutes left!"

* * *

Some yards back from where Cajun and Mai were, Mu was in hot pursuit. She stumbles across the first pile of fallen debris. She performs several summersaults that allow her to break through the debris but forces her to move a tad slower.

* * *

Meanwhile, were Cajun and Mai were, they felt tremors once again. This signal to them that Mu was breaking through the piles of rubble they made. Mai squints to get a better view of what's ahead. "Look! There's the exit!"

Cajun withdraws her laptop. "We've only got forty seconds! Get the hell away from this place as much as possible! The replica doesn't have enough time to escape. I know it!"

Mai and Cajun sprinted as fast as they could through the main exit. The two of them didn't think that they've ran that fast in their entire lives. They've had close calls before but not as this one. Once they were out, they immediately started making their way back to the submarine.

* * *

Back in the Central Control Room, the dynamite packs that were attached to the reactor core had its timer hit zero. A catastrophic explosion started to engulf the entire Central Control Room.

The replica suddenly stopped making their way toward Mai and Cajun and turned around. The fire of the explosion was rapidly making its way toward her. Her only reaction was to close her eyes and expect her inevitable death.

"**Finally..." **

A moment later the flames of the explosion engulfed her. All around the warehouse, separate explosions occurred. After several other small explosions, one gargantuan explosion occurred that utterly destroyed the entire warehouse with no decipherable trace remaining.

* * *

**Submarine Base, 11:52 PM**

Cajun and Mai were having a moment of grim silence from the discovery they've made. They've only come to that warehouse to steal an item but what they've found seemed to have made their accomplished objective meaningless.

Mai is sitting on the chair next the briefing table. She was staring at Cajun looking grim as she was typing on her laptop, compiling the mission data they've gathered.

Mai decided to spark a conversation. "What in God's name was that whole thing about? Who was that man? Argh! I don't understand it!"

Cajun spoke as she typed. "From what that man told us, the NOL is playing the role of God literally."

Mai slams a fist down onto the table, shaking it. "The NOL...it's always the NOL.. The end of the world will pick up where it left off and I should have known the NOL would be the one behind it!"

"Not necessarily." Cajun said as she typed.

"Why?"

Cajun gently closes her laptop once she was finished typing. "The technology required to artificially splice Noel's genes over and over again like that and made it into that last one we've encountered in the lab is far superior to what the NOL are originally capable of developing with its technology. They can't be working alone on this."

Mai stared at the floor. "That last replica...was like an experience I'll never forget...and not in a good way. It made me feel like...the sun was burning right in my face and there was nothing I could do about it. I hope I never feel anything like that again..."

Cajun stands up to slowly make her way toward Mai. She sits on the chair next to Mai's. "Unfortunately, you may have to. It's just a pure coincidence that we've stumbled across one of those labs. Who knows if that was or wasn't the only lab there was. We need to do some more scouting to get to the real origin about Noel. Hazama giving us this important information only scratched the surface of it."

Mai looks into Cajun's eyes. "We have to tell Noel about this, one way or the other. I have a bad feeling about that Hazama guy. He makes me sick to my stomach."

Cajun nodded. "I know..."

Cajun gets from the chair and gets two mugs from the nearby microwave. They apparently are filled with hot chocolate.

Mai gives out a sigh. "How are you so confident with these types of missions, Cajun? I have a feeling that you've done most of the work so far. In fact, I'm probably a burden to you."

Cajun places Mai's mug in front of her. "That's not true, Mai. You were the one who saved me back there. I'd be dead if you hadn't helped me back there. These missions do make me afraid but...I know that I have the best partner in the world at my side."

Mai smiles at Cajun and holds out her mug, proposing a toast. "Thank you, Cajun. I've got you and you got me. If you watch my back, I'll watch yours in return."

Cajun giggles. "Of course, my good friend!"

Cajun taps Mai's mug with their own and they both take a sip of their hot chocolate.

Mai gulps down the last of her sipping of hot chocolate. "You know, Cajun...someday, you'll end up splitting up from this little band."

Cajun chuckled. "Oh no. That's what I keep you around for, Mai."

In a moment, the two of them started to laugh away at the silly little revelation.

They've made a shocking discovery but they were confident in their abilities to use it wisely. They are partners, on an independent mission and now they've had a new mission: To save Noel.

* * *

Well people, I hoped you've enjoyed the adventure!

Also, I would like to mention that this is the first time I've featured Mai and Cajun in my Fanfictions.

I hope to do more of these Gaidens in the future.

So tell me what you think. Would you like me to do more of these Gaidens? What's your suggestion for a Gaiden? I'd love to know.

If you want to go into detail about your ideas for a Gaiden, please post it in my Forum.

As always, thanks for reading and reviewing. You guys are the best audience in the world.

**Rebel Three: End**

**Shrouded Knowledge: End**


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